If I had to do it all over and knew what was coming, I’d marry him again in a minute. He was my soul mate.

-- Marilyn Hanna

Marilyn Hanna was at home on the cold night of Feb. 26, 1983, shortly after 8:30, watching television, when breaking news announced that a state trooper had been shot in Auburn during a traffic stop.

“I knew it was him right away. I called, and they wouldn’t tell me anything. Then a trooper came to my door,” Mrs. Hanna said.

The trooper sped her to St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester.

“I was too late. He was gone. He wasn’t supposed to work that night. A friend wanted the night off, so George filled in. That was common, but his friend felt awful. It wasn’t his fault,” Mrs. Hanna said.

It was 30 years ago this week that Trooper George L. Hanna, 36, a married father of three young children, was gunned down at Routes 12 and 20 in Auburn during a traffic stop.

Trooper Hanna had pulled over a green Vega carrying three men and two women on Routes 12 and 20 in the parking lot of a liquor store.

During a search of the suspects, he discovered the men were armed. One pulled out a handgun. Trooper Hanna was shot seven times before the suspects drove away, leaving him bleeding.

After a short and intense manhunt, Abimael Colon-Cruz, Jose Colon and Miguel Rosado of Worcester were arrested and charged. In 1985, all three were convicted of first degree murder in the shooting death of the state trooper.

In an interview last week, Mrs. Hanna said she remembered the day her husband joined the search for the killer of Holliston Police Officer John Johnson, who was gunned down on Aug. 14, 1981, after a struggle with stolen car suspect Rolando Jiminez.

“I sat with John’s wife, who said she wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Two years later, that was me,” Mrs. Hanna said.

Mrs. Hanna attended every session of the trials of the three men responsible for her husband’s death. At each session, she was accompanied by her father, World War II veteran and Purple heart recipient John Fraelic, a member of the Thunderbirds who had survived the Battle of Anzio in 1944. She said Mr. Fraelic, 90, has played a large part in her children’s lives.

Mrs. Hanna said lead prosecutor Louis P. Aloise and then-District Attorney John J. Conte “were amazing. They handled all three trials and got three guilty verdicts.”

The three cop-killers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. An appeal in 1990 was denied.

“I hope they never get out, but I don’t live in hate. I have to move on for my kids. It’s hard. I want to remind everyone that police work is so dangerous,” Mrs. Hanna said.

“I never remarried, but my kids had me and my parents, who were wonderful with them. It was especially hard not to have their dad here for weddings and when the grandchildren were born.”

The Hanna children are all doing well. Deborah Hanna-Kearney, 44, is married with three children and works in the fingerprint section of the state crime lab in Sudbury. Kimberly Wittenberg, 43, is a married mother of two who works for a pharmaceutical company, and Michael Hanna, 36, plans to go back to school to study business.

Trooper Hanna is remembered each year when the George L. Hanna Memorial Award for Bravery, the highest honor for a Massachusetts police officer, is given to state and local police who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, despite risk to themselves.

Mrs. Hanna said her husband was a very special father as well as a dedicated public servant.

“He always wanted to serve, either in the military or as a police officer or prosecutor.”

She stayed home caring for the couple’s three children while her husband worked as a state trooper for nearly 10 years.

“I remember he said firefighters had the worst job, in terms of danger. It is dangerous, but too many police are being killed,” Mrs. Hanna said.

“George knew a lot of police and firefighters. They were really good to us,” Mrs. Hanna said.

An estimated 2,000 police officers from across the state and the nation lined the streets of Natick, Trooper Hanna’s hometown, during his funeral.

Mrs. Hanna received letters of condolence from hundreds of well-wishers, including former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

“Jackie Kennedy compared her feelings to what I was going through and offered to help. She said I could call her anytime,” Mrs. Hanna said.

She said Norman Knight, president and founder of the Hundred Club of Massachusetts in Boston, also helped her with some tough love. The club, founded in 1959, offers financial and other support to the families of fallen firefighters and police officers.

“He told me my husband died, but I didn’t, and I must get on with my life.”

Then-Gov. Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, were also very supportive.

It was the governor who recommended Mrs. Hanna for a job with the state police. She began working in specialized training at the State Police Academy in Framingham, and, for the past 25 years, has been in media relations at state police headquarters in Framingham.

“I love my job. It’s different every day, and I work with great people,” she said.

The Framingham native met her future husband at a fair in Ashland they both attended with friends.

“I was on the back of another boy’s motorcycle when he saw me, and a friend of mine gave him my number,” Mrs. Hanna said.

Hanna was 20 years old and attending Dean College in Franklin when he decided to enlist during the Vietnam War in 1966.

“He went to enlist in the Air Force, but the door was locked. The recruiter was out to lunch. But the Navy door was open, so he joined the Navy. He looked cute in his uniform,” Mrs. Hanna said.

The couple stayed in touch while Seaman Hanna was at boot camp and got engaged when he came home for the holidays. They married on July 15, 1967, just months after they met. He was 20 years old; she was 19.

“We had 16 good years together. I was lucky,” Mrs. Hanna said.

Trooper Hanna served four years in the Navy, mostly at a secure site in Maryland, then re-entered civilian life and earned a bachelor’s degree in business at Bentley College in Waltham. He later received a master’s degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College in Paxton.

“He enjoyed learning. He was applying for law school when he was killed. He wanted to be a district attorney, not on the other side. My husband was the quiet one, but he was fun,” Mrs. Hanna said.

Trooper Hanna built a kickball wall for children in the couple’s Holliston neighborhood. He also put up a small version of the Fenway Park Green Monster and scoreboard for backyard baseball.

“He was an amazing dad. In 1983, things were different. When my girls were allowed to use calculators in school, their dad wouldn’t let them. He wanted them to use their brains,” Mrs. Hanna said.

“It was hard. It was especially hard for our children growing up without a father,” Mrs. Hanna said.

Deborah was 14, Kimberly was 13, and Michael was 6 when their father was murdered.

Over the past three decades, Trooper Hanna has not been forgotten. Route 12 and 20 in Auburn where he was killed was named in his honor, as is a portion of I-290 in Worcester and a bridge in Natick.

Mrs. Hanna said she knows of no memorials planned for this year’s 30th anniversary of her husband’s murder.

Trooper George L. Hanna is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Natick.

“If I had to do it all over and knew what was coming, I’d marry him again in a minute. He was my soul mate.”